Reviews

The Sims 2

The fact that sims now grow old with time also adds a new dimension to the game, and fixes a complaint with the original (where time seemed to stop when babies grew into children). As sims grow old they can't possibly "do it all." Decisions have to be made. Just as in real life, it's hard for sims to hold down a career while raising several children (at least, several nominally well-adjusted ones). Also, babies grow into toddlers, who grow into teens, who grow into adults, and eventually into elders. Wants and fears change accordingly. Because someone in the family is almost always moving through different phases of life, you see a lot more variety than you did in the original game.

Sims in the same household will often have conflicting wants and fears. Trying to balance them all under the same roof -- and watching the fireworks that result -- can be pretty entertaining and downright challenging. There's a lot more game here than in the original.

Also, this is one game that's just as fun (if not more fun) to lose. When things are going badly for your sims they get downright neurotic: they walk around cringing, they cry themselves to sleep, and they start hallucinating about bunnies. Crazy stuff happens! Sims who die tragic deaths come back as ghosts. Will Wright, in a recent interview, calls this "exploring the failure states." We call it dirty fun.

You can build some pretty awe-inspiring and complex houses, and the building tools are cake to use.

Sims 2: The Creative Toy

Part of the enduring success of the Sims franchise is that it allows people to create. Homes, families, furniture, clothes, and stories were all created and shared online. Does Sims 2 tap into that same creative energy?

We've already shown how the house-building part of the game has more to offer. But that's just where Sims 2 gets started. "Over time we've come to recognize that storytelling is integral to the entire Sims idea and we're always looking for ways to let players create, drive, and share these stories," Will Wright said in the above-mentioned interview. If you're into this part of the game, you can create not just static slideshows of your sims' lives, but video of key moments (just tap the V key to start recording). Because sims grow old, have children, and pass on there's a natural story created with every life.

Moreover, just about anything that can be created for the game can be shared easily online, often from right within the game interface. You can package up and upload houses, families, clothes, and Sims with a mouse click. Whole neighborhoods can't be uploaded -- yet -- but they can be packaged up and saved to be passed from player to player. It's equally easy to download things from the website and incorporate them into the game. (We were not able to fully test this functionality since the live servers are not up at the time of this writing; we were able to test-download a couple of items, though, and the process is very smooth.) A utility to edit and upload wall and floor textures is not available yet, but we've been assured it's in the works. Meanwhile, the Body Shop offers crazy flexibility with creating characters and clothes -- the user community has already created some great stuff, with tons of outfits and hairstyles ready for download.